The Falling Stars
by Caramelight
Summary: Drought. Death. Dreams. One-shot. (:


**Hi! I'm Caramelight, and I welcome you to my story! This is for a challenge, so please review!**

* * *

Her_ father collapsed._

"_Daddy?" the kit squeaked, her big blue eyes noticing that something was wrong. Terribly wrong._

"_Daddy?" the ginger-spotted kit said louder, pawing at her father's limp body with her paw gently. "Daddy? Are you okay?"  
No answer. Just silence._

_The kit ran._

"_Silverfern!" the kit wailed, running as fast as her little legs could carry her. "Silverfern! Hawkfeather's sleeping and he won't wake up!" the kit wailed again, running into the medicine cat's den._

_Silverfern grabbed the kit immediately by the scruff and dashed outside._

_She placed the kit in the nursery and ran outside, pulling Hawkfeather into the medicine cat's den. She started to pull herbs out of her stash._

_The kit stumbled outside, confused. She looked for her father, and having no luck, ran to the medicine cat's den. She looked at her father, who was still limp._

"_What happened to daddy?" she asked, her eyes big. "Is he gonna be okay? He's not gonna die, right?" She looked worried._

_Silverfern had Fireblossom take the kit outside._

_"He's going to be fine... He's just hungry."_

_The clan was in a drought. Hawkfeather had given up his food for others and had denied not eating. He was slowly starving himself for his Clanmates._

_The kit looked into Fireblossom's eyes. "Are you sure he's going to be okay?"_

"_Yes. He will be fine."_

* * *

As the sun dipped below the horizon, yawns and scattered mumbles could be heard across the dark camp. The cats were settling down in their dens, and time seemed to slow. Dapplepaw and Stonepaw lay in the apprentice den, fighting to keep their eyes open. Dapplepaw wouldn't forgive herself if she fell asleep. Tonight was too important to fall asleep for.

Quiet snores drifted through the apprentice den, and Dapplepaw gently shook the snorer, who immediately stopped snoring. She smiled a little at her brilliance and lay back down. Eventually, the den grew silent. Dapplepaw quietly sat up and looked around, searching for Stonepaw.

"Stonepaw." The she-cat hissed quietly.

A silhouette of a head rose. "I'm here."

"Let's go..." Dapplepaw whispered, padding gently out of the shadows, the moonlight shining on her white-and-ginger fur. She knew that tonight there would be a meteor shower. She had heard stories from the elders about "stars falling from the sky" and she wasn't going to miss seeing the falling stars.

Stonepaw padded quietly next to her, their feet hitting the ground rhythmically. He knew that she wouldn't miss it for her life. Stonepaw remembered how her eyes shone whenever the elders told stories about the shooting stars.

The two slowly made their way up the hill, past the brook and cave. Their footsteps were the only sounds in the forest that night. Time seemed to stop.

A shooting star blazed across the sky, ripping through the night sky so brilliantly that even the moon seemed to fade. Then another. Another and another followed, dancing and streaking across the sky. They seemed so close. So close that it seemed like you could just grab them out of the sky and hold them in your paws forever.

"Make a wish." Stonepaw murmured, awestruck.

The tom glanced quickly at Dapplepaw.

"I think," she murmured, voice barely audible, "that I would wish for rain... Just a little rain..."

They remained silent for a fleeting moment, in which another orange star shot across the sky and disappeared.

"Stonepaw..." the she-cat said softly, "will it come true? Will it?" The young apprentice searched for an answer in the tom's green orbs but found none.

The young tom nodded slowly, his green eyes still mesmerized by the shooting stars. "Maybe Dapplepaw... Just maybe..." the tom murmured back.

Dapplepaw looked up at the sky once again, the number of shooting stars beginning to lessen. "The clan is starving. My father says that if rain doesn't come soon, an elder will die. But my father is dying too... We need rain, Stonepaw. We _need_ rain."

* * *

_Dapplepaw padded into the medicine cat's den, her nose slightly crinkling at the smell. She couldn't bear the smell of sickness and..._death. _It all seemed wrong. She didn't understand. Why must cats die? No one deserves to die..._

"_Father..?" Dapplepaw said quietly, slowly sitting down next to her father._

"_Dapplepaw. How nice to see my daughter." The warrior weakly smiled, trying to reassure her, but the pain and fear in his eyes outweighed the small smile._

"_Will you be okay?" Dapplepaw pleaded, her eyes shining with sadness._

"_Yes, I'll be fine. Totally, completely fine."_

_The silence confirmed his belief. He knew that she didn't believe him._

"_You don't believe me..."_

_"Of course I don't. You know that you've been sick and you're not getting better. I hope you don't die...you can't die on me."_

* * *

Stonepaw could sense the desperation in his best friend's voice. "Dapplepaw. I promise that it will rain. I promise."

"You promise?"

"Promise."

* * *

Dapplepaw sat quietly in the shade of the apprentices' den, watching as the rosy sunlight spread behind the thick clouds clogging up the sky.

_Wait...clouds?_

She sprang to her paws, gazing in disbelief at the sky. Though it was sunrise, the sky grew darker as the clouds blocked out the new sunlight.

It began to rain.

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**Please R&R!  
-Caramelight**


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